


The Pink Toothbrush

by smileformemylovely



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Break Up, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mentions of Sex, mentioned Harry/women, mentioned Liam/OFC, mentions of cheating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-13
Updated: 2018-02-13
Packaged: 2019-03-17 17:34:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13663917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smileformemylovely/pseuds/smileformemylovely
Summary: Louis and Zayn are best friends who may be sleeping together. A pink toothbrush clears up everything.





	The Pink Toothbrush

It has started so simple. An empty hole in the wall bar, drinks with half melted ice in them feeling the conversation, and two horny boys. 

“I need to get  _ laid _ , Z, it's been  _ months.”  _ Louis fished out a cherry from Zayn’s empty drink. “Harry looks at me sideways and I almost drop my panties for him.” 

Zayn tilted his glass back, chewing on the ice. “Why don't you just fuck him then? Tell him no feelings or have a one off?” 

Louis buried his heads in his hands and groaned. “I already did.” 

Zayn choked out a  _ What?! _

“It was three months ago, I was high and horny and my vibrator was broken, so we fucked, in my bed, which used to be our bed, in our shared room, because we're both stubborn assholes who refuse to move out. And  _ now, _ ” Louis grabbed at Zayn’s arm, whose face was struggling reveal how much he was trying not to laugh. “Now the bastard keeps crawling into  _ my bed _ in his _ tiny banana yellow boxers _ in the middle of the night and pressing his giant, gorgeous cock in the middle of my back. This man gets laid by all these tall, hot blonde models, who thinks he's  _ so cool _ because he's a bisexual photographer who lives in the middle of nowhere, in some hipster flat, and he's still horny. For  _ me.  _ I'm the only person that man wants to sleep with multiple times, and I don't  _ even want him _ .”

Zayn nods, raising his eyebrows. “That sounds like a  _ major  _ issue.” 

Louis digs his fingernails into the skin of Zayn's forearm. “No, you don't understand, I am  _ this, _ ” Louis held up his fingers a hair apart, “close to sleeping with him again, which means I am  _ this _ close to either being the person who goes back and fucks their ex, and never getting over them, so I just become a fling he strings along, or we start again. And it's great! For six months, and then I remember why we broke up,  _ because he can't remain monogamous _ , and I hate myself in six months, and break up, and in a year I'm back here, ranting to you, about why I shouldn't fuck Harry. Again. So I need to get fucked so the next time he crawls into my bed in  _ tiny, banana yellow boxers _ , I don't drop my panties.”

Zayn patted Louis’ hand, which was digging craters into his inked skin. “You're right, I don't understand.”

Louis cocked his head and pressed his lips together. “I'm sorry. I forgot, the whole Liam, engaged, lied to your face thing.” 

Liam, Zayn’s ex, had moved here for two years to intern under a lawyer. He and Zayn had dated for two years, before Liam went back to London and married a Victoria Secret’s model. 

“Wanna go get high at my house? Harry's in Manchester with some blonde.” 

“In tiny, banana yellow boxers?” 

Louis groaned and patted Zayn's shoulder as the blue eyed man stood up to pay the tab. 

Later, they stumbled into Louis’ flat and Zayn rolled a blunt. They smoked it while sprawled on Louis’ bed,  _ Brokeback Mountain  _ playing on the television.

“Why are we watching this sad, gay movie?” Zayn asked, passing the almost finished, skunky blunt to Louis

“Because we’re sad and gay, and I'm in love with Heath Ledger. Wanna kill it?” 

Zayn shook his head and after Louis had come back to the bed after getting rid of the end, he snuggled into Zayn's side. They finished the movie in comfortable silence and when the credits rolled, Louis flicked off the television and pulled out a pair of sweats for both of them, tossing a one of them at Zayn. He changed in bed, throwing his dirty clothes in the corner. Both of them were shirtless when Louis crawled into bed, turning off the lights and resting on his back. 

“Hey, Lou?” Zayn whispered.

Louis hummed. 

“You think I'm hot, right?” 

Louis turned on his side and saw that Zayn mirrored him, watching him with dark eyes across the bed. “Course.” 

“I think you're hot.” 

Louis smiled softly. “I know.” 

Zayn took a deep breath. “So we're both hot, and we're both gay. So why don't we… sleep together?” 

Louis blinked. “Us?” 

Zayn sucked in a breath. “Look, there's no gay or bi guys in this village, we don't have time to go anywhere else, you don't want to fuck Harry, I don't want to fuck Harry, so…” 

“We should fuck each other.” 

“No feelings, no emotions, if we find someone else we move on. We're adults, we know how to make it where it won't affect our friendship, and we're hot.” 

Louis nodded. “I,uh, yeah that...makes sense.” 

“Yeah.”

Louis swallowed around the sudden lump in his throat. “Maybe we should talk about this when we're both not super high.”

“Maybe.” Zayn let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. 

“Good night, Z.” Louis rolled on to his stomach, his bare tummy close enough to Zayn's skin he felt the warmth coming off him. He tucked his arms under his pillow and turn his head towards Zayn. 

Louis felt Zayn press his lips, daring and soft, against his own before whispering, “Goodnight, Lou.” 

~

Louis woke up, slightly hungover, with two men in his bed. Harry, spider monkey arm slung over Louis’ back, drooling on his pillow, his body pressed against the line of Louis’. And Zayn, his arm tucked under his head, on his side facing Louis, his free hand resting on Louis’ shoulder. 

_ God damn it.  _ Louis was sandwiched between his ex boyfriend and his best friend…

Louis swallowed hard. His best friend who wanted to sleep with him. 

Louis buried his head in his pillow, took two deep breaths, before turning on his side towards Harry. He ignored the solid warmth of Zayn behind him, and kicked Harry in the thigh. Harry stirred and then hummed in his sleep. 

“Harry,” Louis hissed. He kicked out again. “Harry, get out of here.” 

Harry stirred and opened his eyes. They were sleepily green, just like the first morning thy had woken up in the same bed.

Louis blinked away the vision. “Get in your own bed, Harry,” he said, motioning to the twin size bed tucked in to the opposite corner of the large room, purchased after a loud, angry argument that had ended in a stalemate over who would leave the apartment, both of them too stubborn to. Harry grunted and frowned. 

“But,  _ Lou _ ,” Harry pouted. “I'm warm and  _ lonely.”  _

_ “ _ I don't care, Harry.”

Harry reached a hand out and ran it down the side of Louis’ jaw. “You could help with me that.” 

Louis rolled his eyes. “First of all, no, we're not doing that again. Second of all, Zayn is right here. So go back to your fucking bed and stay out of mine.” 

“He could join.”

Louis kicked him in the shin. “Bed, you pervert.” 

Harry pouted the whole three feet to his bed.

~

In the morning, the actual morning, Louis woke up to an empty room. He stretched and turned onto his back, staring up at the white ceiling. He thought about what Zayn had proposed. 

He contemplated the pros and cons, weighing them in his mind. Fucking Zayn. Zayn fucking him. 

His best friend was very attractive. Lithe, caramel coloured skin, covered in tattoos. Dark, feline eyes surrounded by coal black lashes that matched his thick, dark hair. Long, artist fingers he sometimes polished with dark colours, usually splattered with acrylics or oil paints.

Louis knew what he had to do. 

He headed for the kitchen/living room area, currently occupied by Zayn. Harry was nowhere to be found. Zayn was settled in the corner of the couch, a cup of coffee in one hand, scrolling through his phone with the other. He looked up when he heard Louis come in the room. 

“Hey,” Louis greeted, before sitting next to Zayn, facing him, crossing his legs. Zayn smiled. 

“Hey. Niall texted, Shawn hadn't left yet so he asked…” 

“Yeah, no, it's fine.” Louis took a breath. “Look, about last night.” 

Zayn squirmed and readjusted his legs. “It was nothing, I wasn't in the right mind, I… let's just forget about it.” 

“Let's do it.” 

Zayn looked up at him. “What?” 

Louis swallowed and nodded. “Let's, uh, lets…” 

“Fuck.” 

Louis nodded again. 

“Okay.” 

“Okay.” 

Both of their words were at a whisper.

Zayn set the cup and phone down on the end table. “Do you want to…” 

“Now?” 

“We don't have to.” 

“Yeah, let's do it now.”

“Bedroom?”

“Yeah.” 

Zayn leaned forward. “Can I kiss you?” 

Louis felt a smile curl around his lips. “Yeah.” 

Zayn pressed their lips together, once, soft and sweet. Then Louis pulled him into the bedroom and shut the door. 

~

Louis shivered in the cool morning, stretching slightly and pulling the duvet up to his shoulders. 

“Stop stealing the blanket,” a warm voice flowed over the pillows, rough with sleep. Louis turned on his side and reached a hand out to run through Zayn’s dark locks. 

“Tell your stupid roommate to turn up the air.” Louis’ voice was a whisper. 

Zayn reached an arm out and drew Louis to his chest. He tucked the duvet around their shoulders, before throwing a leg over Louis’ thighs. “Mmmm, better?” 

“Your dick is on my hip.”

Louis felt Zayn's smile into his shoulder. “I'll put it somewhere else later. You late for work?” 

“Not Sunday's.” 

“Few more hours of sleep, then cereal and weed?”

In lieu of an answer, Louis scratched at the top of Zayn's spine, then dragged his fingers down to the dip of his back. Up and down, soothing them both to a warm doze. 

Louis woke up in an empty bed, the duvet wrapped around like a burrito. He rolled out of bed and found a pair of sweats and t shirt to tug on before heading out to the living room where Zayn's roommate, Niall, sat. A documentary played on the television and Niall shovelled in cold Chinese food with chopsticks, red rimmed eyes turning to him when he noticed Louis. 

“Lou!”

“Niall,” Louis greeted the Irish man before sitting next to him. He tapped his temple. “Tears or pot?”

Niall smiled slowly at him. “One hundred percent weed.” Louis nodded and tucked his feet under his thighs. “You still living with the ex?” 

Louis rolled his head back and pressed his hands to his eyes. “Unfortunately. Where's Z?” 

“Store. Said we ran out of Cocoa Pops and English tea.” 

Louis hummed and after the Irishman placed his food down, rotated and rested his head on his lap, tossing his feet over the leg of the couch. Niall scratched at his scalp. “I'm not Zayn, you can't just lay on me and expect me to give you attention, you needy fuck.” 

Louis smirked at Niall before closing his eyes. “And yet here we are, Ni.”

“I'm a sucker for Northerners with blue eyes. Must be why me and your mum are so close.” 

Louis slapped Niall on the knee. 

“Are you and Zayn dating?"

Louis startled out of Niall’s lap. “What?"

“You, Zayn, dating.” Niall rolled his eyes.

“What?” 

“ _ Dating.  _ You know, two adults have happy feelings for each other, go to places, sleep with each other, don't see other people. Eventually get married or break up. Dating.”

“I know what dating is, Niall.” 

Louis slumped on the couch. “We’re not dating, Niall. We're friends.” 

Niall raised an eyebrow. “You're fucking, you go places together, neither of you have gone on a date with other people, you're the two clingiest fucks I've ever met, you sleep together… not even fucking, just sleeping more nights then not, and…” 

“He bought me a toothbrush. And brought one to my flat.” 

_ Next to Zayn's in the holder, there was a bright pink toothbrush. Louis held it up when Zayn walked in to do his nightly rituals. “What is this?”  _

_ Zayn cheekily grinned at him. “Your new toothbrush.”  _

_ Louis narrowed his eyes at him.  _

_ “I'm tired of you using mine, so I bought you a toothbrush, because using mine is gross.”  _

_ “You'll eat my ass, but sharing a toothbrush is gross?”  _

_ Zayn pressed his lips to Louis’ cheek. “Now I'll just have to eat it twice.”  _

_ Louis giggled and pushed Zayn's shoulder. “That doesn't even make sense!” _

_ Zayn laughed before kissing Louis’ neck, making the shorter man giggle more.  _

_ The next time Zayn slept over at Louis’ house, there was a pink toothbrush next to Louis’.  _

Niall nodded. “That sounds like me and Shawn.” 

Louis’ eyes went big and mouthed an  _ oh my god.  _ “Niall, I think me and Zayn are dating.” 

Niall nodded again. 

The front door opened, and Zayn came in, carrying bags. He smiled when he saw Louis. 

“Hey guys."

Louis looked at Niall and shook his head. Niall shrugged. 

“Hey, Z,” Louis greeted. Zayn came over to the couch after depositing the bags on the kitchen table. He leaned over the edge of the couch and smiled.\

“I got called into the gallery today, so our plans will have to wait for tonight.” 

Louis nodded. “That's fine.” 

“But I had to go the store, so I grabbed Cocoa Pops and Earl Grey. Help yourself.” 

Louis smiled, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. “Thanks, Z.” 

Zayn returned his smile and patted Louis’ shoulder. “Hey, Niall.” 

“Hey, bro.”

Zayn squeezed Louis’ shoulder before going to the bedroom and changed. He left fifteen minutes later, Louis still sitting shocked on the couch. 

Around six, Louis headed to the gallery where Zayn worked as a cashier and general bitch boy for the owner. Zayn and Louis ate the sandwiches Louis brought at the front desk, chatting about Louis’ dance class he taught. When the trash was taken care of, Louis took Zayn's hand in his and took a breath.

“Zayn, we need to talk.” 

Zayn hummed. 

“Zayn, I think we're dating.” 

Zayn had the same expression on his face Louis did when he realised. Shocked and confused. 

“The toothbrush, the sex, we go on dates without calling them dates, we don't see other people. We're dating.” 

Zayn chuckled once and grinned. “Oh my god, we’re dating.” 

Louis smiled and nodded. “We’re dating.” 

Zayn stood up, pulling Louis to his feet before kissing him solidly. 

“Wow,” Zayn chuckled out. “We were boyfriends and we didn't even realise.” 

Louis crinkled his eyes. “Not the brightest bulbs, are we?” 

Zayn laughed and kissed him again. 

“Toothbrush?” Zayn asked when he pulled back. 

“The pink toothbrushes at each other's flats. That's how I knew.” 

“That we were dating.” 

Louis giggled and nodded. 

Zayn grinned and kissed him again. When they pulled away, Zayn rested his forehead on Louis’.

“Well, boyfriend, would you like to go on an official date with me?” 

Louis grinned and nodded, before kissing Zayn again. 

His boyfriend, all thanks to a pink toothbrush. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading XX


End file.
